


Meet the Family

by sister_dear



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Character tags will be added as their chapters come up, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Humor, I hope, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), mild violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:53:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28856133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sister_dear/pseuds/sister_dear
Summary: The boys meet each other’s adventuring companions. Many of them have one thing in common: they are, perhaps, just a tad protective.
Relationships: Four & Hyrule & Legend & Sky & Time & Twilight & Warriors & Wild & Wind (Linked Universe)
Comments: 44
Kudos: 225





	1. A Boy and His Loftwing

**Author's Note:**

> This one is going up as a chapter story because they’re going to be a little short to work as standalones, but there’s no overarching plot here. To be updated when I want something quick and lighthearted to work on.
> 
> I’m pretty sure Four is only meant to be able to talk to animals when he’s Minish size, but for the sake of this story he can understand them no matter what. It’s more fun that way.

They stepped out of the portal into blindingly bright sunlight. Most of the group squinted, blinking and raising hands for shade as their eyes adjusted from the dimly lit forest they’d just come through.

Sky, however, breathed in once and then exclaimed in delight on the very next exhale. With no warning whatsoever he raised his fingers to his mouth and let out a truly ear-splitting whistle. Open space blossomed around him as the entire group flinched away. 

Legend, who’d been standing closest to him, rubbed at his ringing ears. “A little warning next time,” he snapped, squinting against the light and the pain. 

“Sorry, sorry!” Sky didn’t sound sorry. He bounded forward, as energetic as Wind catching sight of sunlight on water. 

“Uh, guys?” Hyrule’s voice very carefully did not waver. “Where’s the ground?”

That earned several more startled exclamations as the rest of the group lifted their heads and discovered that they were not, in fact, on some small plateau. Instead they stood on what appeared to be a tiny island suspended over absolutely nothing. Hyrule took a shuddering step back from the very long drop he’d found himself uncomfortably close to.

“The ground is below the cloud barrier!” Sky’s laugh rang through the air, as swift and light as the breeze. “We’re near Skyloft!”

That drew some interest. Sky spoke of his home, of course, or at least the people who lived there. It remained one of his favorite topics. But they’d yet to actually visit his era. The group dispersed, moving outward cautiously. 

Too small to be inhabited, the island they were on served as little more than a resting point for the denizens of the sky. Mostly grass, with a handful of large rocks and low-growing bushes. The sun beat down relentlessly and the island provided no shade, but the crisp, thin air kept the temperature cool. 

Warriors sidled up to the outer rim of the island to risk a peek downward, paled, and backpedaled quickly towards the center, dragging a protesting Wind with him. Wild joined Sky at the very edge. Even he, with his towering mountains, rarely got the opportunity to look _down_ at the clouds. “What are we looking for?”

A flash of red in the distance drew his eye, standing out starkly against the blue above and fluffy white below. 

“That!” Sky said, breathless and beaming. He kept inhaling deeply through his nose and letting it all back out in great big gusting sighs, as if in joy at the sheer ease of it.

The red blur drew nearer. As it approached, the form of a large bird began to take shape. 

Wind, having prized himself loose from Warriors to come stand next to them, bounced on his toes. Sky’s excitement was infectious. “Oh! Is that your loftwing?”

“Yes.” Sky practically vibrated in place. As his friend drew closer, his expression softened from one of anticipation to something fond, near-nervous energy loosening into contentment. He guided Wind and Wild back from the edge to give the bird room to land. 

And land she did, pumping wings causing a backdraft of air that sent clothes flapping and Legend clutching at his hat. 

Crimson warbled a greeting to Sky, clucking happily and nudging at him with her beak. Continuous little crooning noises rumbled from her throat, her feathers all ruffled and seemingly unable to hold still. She plucked at his clothes and hands, preened his hair, paused every other second to pull back and give off an excited trill. Sky’s smile never wavered. He ran his hands over her head and broad bill whenever she held still long enough for him to do so. “I missed you too, friend.”

Done with her inspection, Crimson tucked her head over Sky’s shoulder. Her eyelids drifted to a content half-mast as Sky scratched and smoothed the feathers at the base of her skull and the upper portion of her neck. He knew all her favorite spots. Where she couldn’t reach, what would tickle and what would put her to sleep. Her weight bore down with increasing heaviness until Sky had to shift a small step back to keep his balance. At that, Crimson blinked herself awake again with a little grumble that was so like Sky it made Four clamp a hand to his mouth, eyes dancing with merriment. He exchanged a glance with Twilight, whose lips tipped up in a crooked half smile. Crimson tucked her bill further over Sky’s shoulder, using it to draw him in towards her feathery chest, clucking and warbling all over again. 

“Crimson, stop, knock it off.” Despite the token protest, Sky seemed quite happy to go with the nudging, choosing to ignore Legend’s snorting little snickers. He wrapped his arms as far around Crimson as they would reach, giving her as much of a full body hug as he could manage. He turned his head away from the feathers tickling at his face, wrinkling his nose to stave off a sneeze. “She’s very excited, she’s not normally like this.”

“I’m sure.” Time’s dry amusement set off another ripple of chuckles. 

Sky safely tucked up against her chest, Crimson turned her attention to the nearest of his companions. 

“Uhh…” Wind shuffled back a step, wide-eyed. His hand twitched towards his sword before he controlled it.

“She won’t hurt you, Wind.” Sky’s reassurance gave Wind the courage to stand his ground as Crimson reached for him with her beak, nuzzling with far more care than she’d shown Sky. Wind reached back, scratching carefully at her feathers as he’d seen Sky do, then with more enthusiasm when he received no negative reaction. Crimson clicked once and warbled. Sky’s face abruptly twisted up. A series of breathy little chuckles escaped him, muffled by him burying his face half in Crimson’s feathers and half in his own shoulder, arms still wrapped around his loftwing. 

Wind narrowed suspicious eyes in Sky’s direction. “Why are you laughing?” Sky shook his head, eyes squeezed shut with poorly hidden mirth. “Skyyyy!” Wind drew the last part of his name out into one long vowel. “Why?”

Sky controlled himself long enough to answer. “That’s the sound they make at their chicks.” The edges of a broad smile peeked out over his sailcloth. 

Wind frowned. He shot Crimson a dubious look, fingers still working busily at her feathers as she preened his hair in turn. “Isn’t that the sound she was making at you?”

“No. _That_ was the call they reserve for their riders. I’m the only one she makes it for.”

Wind listened, dubious. The little chirps and trills seemed pretty darn similar to him. “It’s the same sound.”

Sky shook his head. He drew his arms back in, crossing them and turning to better watch as Wind and his loftwing interacted. He pushed his weight into Crimson, head and shoulders half buried in her downy feathers, trusting her to keep him upright. “I’m afraid it’s really not.” 

Four, unexpectedly, agreed with him. “No. It isn’t the same.” He smiled, soft and secretive.

“Like you’re an expert.” Legend rolled his eyes. He fell silent as Four also approached the large bird, reaching out a cautious hand. Crimson greeted him with a warbling croon, meeting his hand briefly before rubbing her beak across the top of his head. The small smile on Four’s face broadened. 

A few of the others shifted closer. Twilight also held out a hand for inspection, Warriors just behind him. They moved down along her side towards her wing, Twilight trailing his hand along her neck like he would with a horse. Warriors eyed the riding tack she was wearing with great interest. “Is that just a collar? How do you stay on when she dives?”

“She’s in light gear because I haven’t been here. There’s a specialized harness we use for more acrobatic flying.”

Wild, more interested in the distance to the clouds below than the loftwing, drifted close to the edge on Crimson’s other side. Time followed him, keeping an eye out for any signs that he was actually considering jumping off. Play could come later, once the rest of the group reached a more secure location. He put an absent hand on Crimson’s side as he did it, well accustomed to touching large domestic animals so as not to startle them with his presence. 

Unexpectedly, Crimson stretched her wings. They swept back and up and out, carefully missing all four of the adventurers gathered around her sides. She scooped them forward, drawing Twilight and Warriors against one side and Wild and Time against the other as she resettled. Downy feathers and a very self-satisfied purr overrode their various startled exclamations. Legend and Wind cackled as four heads popped out from under her wings, every one of them rather ruffled. Hyrule hid his mouth behind his hands, shoulders trembling with the effort of holding back laughter.

“I’m so sorry! Crimson, that’s rude!” But despite his words Sky made no effort whatsoever to help them. He and Four shared a look and burst into snickering. 

“Move.” Twilight gave Warriors a shove. 

“Why?” He shot back, making a show of fixing his hair. “It’s cold up here, and she’s warm.”

Twilight groaned, but let his head fall against Crimson’s side rather than duck out from under her wings. Time and Wild, on the other hand, immediately pushed their way free. Time hooked an arm around Wild’s shoulders, loose enough he could still pull away should he wish, and patted Crimson’s side until she settled. Crimson turned her head away from Wind and Four as if to herd Time and Wild back into place, then seemed to change her mind and instead tried to nudge the two shortest members up to her chest as she’d done with Sky. Wind went with it, face split with a grin of delight and the last of his giggling still fading from his chest. Four ducked away but followed Wind up to Sky’s side. 

Crimson turned her beady eyes on the last two, as if sizing up how many more she could fit under her wings. “Oh no you don’t,” Legend bristled. But Hyrule, having been keeping a watchful eye on things, grabbed his hand and took several large steps forward. Crimson tried to tuck them in as well. Legend wasn’t having it, digging his feet in and keeping his arm at its fullest extent without actually releasing Hyrule’s hand.

Sky separated himself from the feathers he’d been quite content to lean against. “Leave them alone, you menace.” The words were entirely fond. He ducked under her chin, pulling her bill down until the underside of it came to rest against his chest, her neck hooked over his shoulder. Tender fingers stroked the feathers between her eyes. “It’s good to have family, isn’t it,” he murmured, burying his face in her feathers. She clicked her beak back once, a happy little croon of perfect agreement.


	2. Horses are a Hylian's Best Friend

Hyrule Field near glittered in the light of a pleasant afternoon sun. The soft murmur of conversation and rustle of many feet tramping through grass trailed behind Twilight as he led his companions away from Ordon and towards Castle Town. Epona’s hooves thudded rhythmically in the dirt at his side, periodically chasing up insects. Wild, walking close on Epona’s other side, amused himself with seeing how many of them he could catch. 

In short, Twilight’s era was showing itself well to its first-time guests. 

Less pleasant? The argument Twilight currently found himself embroiled in. 

“Look, Twilight. I get that you think highly of your freakishly large farm animals-”

“Her name is Epona.”

Epona’s ears flicked his way at the sound of her name. Twilight rubbed his hand over her neck, glancing back briefly to make sure the others continued to maintain enough space around her hind end. Usually he would try to keep a horse at the back of a group like this, but being in his Hyrule, by tradition he took the lead. 

“Epona. Right.” Legend flapped a hand. “What we do is dangerous. She’s just a horse.” 

Epona's bulk hid Wild's eye-roll from Legend’s view but not Twilight’s own. Twilight stifled a smile.

Legend didn’t know better. Legend couldn’t know better. Twilight’s voice still gained a warning tone when he said, “Epona isn’t just any old farm animal.” 

There was no denying that right now she looked the part. Laden down with their packs, walking agreeably along at Twilight’s side, her humble tack so clearly designed for riding herd rather than carrying a warrior in bloody charge against his foes. 

Time and Wild _did_ know better. They continued to hold their conspicuous silence, letting Twilight fight his own battles. 

“Epona is very well behaved.” Twilight pointed out, very reasonably. “Unlike some,” he glanced back over his shoulder to pitch in Sky’s direction, perhaps somewhat less reasonably. 

Sky returned the comment with a serene smile, completely unrepentant. 

_“Sky_ is not trying to convince us to bring his pet along on a very dangerous trip through time and space!”

“Now hold on.” Sky’s voice gained the kind of sharp edge so rare to hear from him, every trace of lackadaisical pleasure gone from his posture. “Crimson is no pet!”

The ensuing argument very thoroughly distracted Legend. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Warriors. He slipped ahead as Legend fell back, slotting himself into place at Twilight’s side. He gave Epona a very professional once-over. He lingered on the scars, the set of her head, the height of her steps. 

“She’s a fine horse.”

“Thank you.” There’s a “but” hiding behind the words. Twilight raises his eyebrows, meets Warriors stare for challenging stare. 

“Has she been trained for battle? Done drills with soldiers or other horses?”

“No,” Twilight said with mounting frustration. “She’s a farm horse.”

Warriors looked somewhere between pained and frustrated. He rubbed his forehead, searching for where to start.

The grass rustled. Ahead of them, not behind. Twilight’s hand was already heading for his sword when a decu baba, hidden in the tall stalks, popped out of the ground right at his feet. Twilight reeled back. It took a split second and no thought at all to gain enough distance for the simple, swift strike required to deal with these monsters. 

Epona beat him to it.

With a piercing equine scream, Epona reared up. The metal shoes on her hooves flashed in the sunlight. Wild made a grab for her loose reins, missed. As quickly as she went up, she came back down. All her weight drove through her front hooves, landing squarely on the monster’s bulbous head. There came a sick crunching, cracking sound. 

Epona went up again. She gained less height this time, still coming down with enough force to crush the bones in any Hylian foot that might have been in the way. She tossed her head, arched her back, and Twilight was so utterly relieved that Time and Warriors were keeping the others well away as she gave a little kick of her hind hooves that he knew from experience was strong enough to toss a monster three horse-lengths through the air. 

Wild’s hand closed around her reins. She screamed again, stamping and snorting. The shell under her feet crumbled and crunched, poofing into black dust. Twilight re-sheathed his sword. He grabbed her reins from Wild, soothing and praising until she was standing calmly once again. “That’s my girl,” he murmured, proud, offering her a treat. He gave her neck an affectionate rub as she crunched away, perfectly content. 

Slowly, he became aware of the utter silence. He met Wild’s eyes over Epona’s nose, saw the delighted smile that only ever meant trouble. He turned. 

Near the back of the group, Time’s arms were crossed. A pleased curl played at the edges of his mouth. Everyone else wore varying expressions of shock, awe, and a sudden respect that verged on fear. Four looked downright spooked. Unlike Crimson, he’d been wary of Epona from the start, something Twilight tried not to read too much into.

Legend cleared his throat. All eyes swung to him. He smoothed his bangs down, looking anywhere but at Twilight. 

“Right. I withdraw my objections. Epona can come.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Epona was screaming something like “Die die die!” Yes Four is now convinced she’s a psychopath.


End file.
